Calabasas, CA, April 23, 2012 -Ixia(NASDAQ: XXIA), the
leading global provider of converged IP and wireless
network test solutions, announced today the industry's
first off-the-shelf, standards-based OpenFlow test
solution. The company's IxNetwork and IxANVL test solutions
now enable OpenFlow protocol emulation with integrated
network traffic and offer a suite of OpenFlow compliance
tests. The OpenFlow communications protocol brings network
simplification by centralizing access to switch and router
forwarding planes. Ixia's test solutions enable network
equipment manufacturers, service providers, and enterprises
implementing this promising new technology to verify
protocol conformance and tune network designs before
deployment. The solution will be demonstrated publically
May 8-10 at Interop Las Vegas in Ixia's booth #1262 and
Ixia will participate in the InteropNet OpenFlow Lab.

OpenFlow-enabled networks open up many possibilities for
development through software defined networking (SDN),
where the network control plane is accessible through an
application programming interface (API). This area is
gaining a lot of momentum as large enterprise such as
Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo seek the
vendor-neutral network programmability enabled by
decoupling their control- and data-planes.

Ixia's OpenFlow test capabilities include OpenFlow
emulation in IxNetwork and an OpenFlow conformance test
suite in IxANVL. Leveraging its hardware-based traffic
generation with new control-plane capability, IxNetwork can
now emulate an OpenFlow controller to modify flow table
entries and then generate traffic to test the forwarding.
For testing switch protocol conformance, IxANVL will have a
new suite of OpenFlow v1.0 testing that includes testing
cases for Open Networking Foundation (ONF) certification in
alignment with the OF-Test 1.0 specification that is
currently being finalized. Protocol conformance is
important to not only ensure compatibility in a
multi-vendor environment, but to pursue ONF
certification.

Development of the OpenFlow standard is managed by
the ONF. The
OpenFlow protocol has found its way into many vendors'
physical Ethernet routers and switches, virtual switches,
and access points and continues to evolve under the
guidance of the ONF.

Ixia is the Chair for the Testing-Interop Working Group,
which planned and managed the first ever ONF
interoperability event last month at Ixia's iSimCity lab in
Santa Clara, CA. This event was open to all ONF
member companies and focused on the v1.0 standard. The
white paper and technical document will be available on the
ONF opennetworking.org website.

Quotes:

"Testing tools are critical to helping to ensure protocol
conformance and optimal performance," said Dan Pitt
Executive Director at ONF. "ONF member companies
continually strive to ensure that their customers have
access to products that keep pace with innovative new
technologies and standards."

"Ixia's commitment to open standards will
help accelerate the adoption of SDN and creation of
innovative solutions by ensuring high conformance to the
OpenFlow protocol," said Isabelle Guis, Vice President of
Outbound Marketing at Big Switch Networks. "This is part of
Big Switch Networks' open SDN architecture and we are
excited to participate in a demonstration of
OpenFlow-enabled technology in Ixia's Interop booth."

"OpenFlow is an exciting new lower-layer technology that
enables software-defined networking and will cause
significant change the way networks are controlled," said
Michael Haugh, Senior Product Line Manager, at Ixia. "As
operators implement OpenFlow, they'll need test tools like
Ixia's to validate their hybrid networks, ensuring a smooth
transition to SDN."

This material is for informational purposes only and
subject to change without notice. It describes Ixia's
present plans to develop and make available to its
customers certain products, features and capabilities. Ixia
is only obligated to provide those deliverables
specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia
and the customer.